


Fire Emblem: Three Trick-or-Treaters

by mymhilda



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Babysitter Byleth, Fluff, Gender-Neutral My Unit | Byleth, Other, Other Characters Briefly Mentioned - Freeform, Other characters briefly shown, im getting a little more used to writing canon now i think!, imagine them however you want!, their costumes are kigurumis btw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-10-25
Packaged: 2021-01-02 23:42:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21169823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mymhilda/pseuds/mymhilda
Summary: Byleth is suddenly put in charge of watching over three children who are very eager to get candy.





	Fire Emblem: Three Trick-or-Treaters

“You...want me to take these three trick-or-treating?” questioned Byleth, looking up at their dad with slight confusion.

“You said that you needed a bit more money to afford those games you like, didn't you?” replied Jeralt with amusement clear on his face. “You'll get a pretty decent amount from taking care of these brats.”

“But I've never…” Byleth paused mid-sentence, making eye contact with a small girl. She jumped, hiding behind Jeralt's leg. “Good luck, kid,” he says before walking away.

“Er… Hello. My name is Byleth. Your names are…?”

The young girl looked up at Byleth again, this time maintaining eye contact. “M-my name is Edelgard,” she stated, putting her hand on her hip. “I'm gonna get the most candy in the whole neighborhood!”

“El, c'mon, you gotta save some for us…” The blonde-haired boy spoke up, clutching the bag he was holding tightly. He then turned his gaze to Byleth. “I'm Dimitri,” he smiled politely.

“You get what you get, Dimitri - if you don't get enough candy, then you need to step your game up!”

“Please don't fight,” interjected Byleth, then turning her gaze to the final child. “And who might this be?”

“Claude,” stated the child, “and actually, _ I'm _ gonna have the most candy by the end of the night.”

Edelgard pouted. “We'll see about that, now won't we?”

“Halloween isn't a competition, everyone…we can all share candy later.” Byleth reasoned, attempting to get the children to calm down.

Edelgard just clicked her tongue in response and crossed her arms. Oh, jeez… What a handful these three were going to be, weren't they?

“Come now, let's get your costumes all on, okay?” Byleth stood up, gesturing for the children to follow them.

  
  


* * *

  


After the children donned their costumes (the ones in question being an eagle, lion, and deer, respectively), Byleth made sure they had their bags before heading out.

Locking the door behind them, Byleth clearly instructed the children before they set off. “Remember: don't go too far away from me, okay?”

The three children nodded in agreement, beginning to walk ahead of their babysitter.

Byleth sighed, walking behind them.

  
  


* * *

  


The first stop brought them to an acquaintance of Byleth; she was actually an opera singer that Jeralt used to bring them to. Byleth couldn't help but be nervous, however, since Manuela could sometimes be a bit...well, melancholy.

Gently, Edelgard stepped up and knocked on her door. “Trick-or-treat!”

Rummaging was heard from behind the door, then it was opened to reveal a rather disheveled Manuela. “Happy Halloween,” muttered the woman, putting the candy inside their bags.

“You don't look so good, Manuela,” Byleth remarked, to their immediate regret. _ Oh great, Manuela’s got that look in her eye like she’s about to go on a tangent... _

“Well I'm not. I went out yesterday, got a few drinks with this really handsome fellow - really, you should've seen how dashing he looked - and then he 'left to use the restroom' and never came back!” she groaned, then noticed that the kids were beginning to take off.

“You should catch up with them. We can always chat later, if you'd like,” she winked, and Byleth nodded in response. “I'll see you around, Manuela. Feel better.”

Manuela thanked her before Byleth rushed to catch up to the kids.  
  
Silently, the older woman noted that Byleth seemed happier somehow today.

  
  


* * *

  


“Oh, hey, isn't that Linhardt from school?” questioned Claude, looking across the street at two young children and their guardians.  
“It is. Hi Linhardt, hi Caspar!” shouted Edelgard towards the two kids that Byleth could only assume were their school friends. 

An enthusiastic “yo” was heard from across the street before the other child, Caspar, rushed over to the next house. His friend Linhardt slowly trailed behind him.

Edelgard frowned. “What's wrong, Edelgard?” questioned Byleth, looking down at the young girl. “Linhardt and Caspar get to go trick-or-treating together every year, but I didn't get to go with my friend Hubert this year,” tears welled up in her eyes, “it isn't fair! I want to trick-or-treat with Hubert too but my mother said that Hubert's father was really busy!”

Byleth paused, unsure of how to comfort a child. They thought for a moment on how Jeralt would have comforted them as a kid.

_ “C'mere, kid,” said Jeralt, putting Byleth on his lap. It was rare for Byleth to cry - they hadn't exactly been the most emotional child. However, today, Byleth had been playing some sort of computer game in class, and they named one of the characters after their father (which he couldn't help but feel prideful about). _

_ However, the character ended up dying, and no one at the school could get Byleth to stop crying over it. He moved to gently pat his child on the head. “Hey...don't cry. It's alright. Your dad isn't going anywhere anytime soon, okay?” _

_ Byleth sniffled. “Do you mean it, dad?” _

_ Chuckling in response, Jeralt couldn't help but flash a grin. “Promise.” _

Byleth tentatively moved to pat Edelgard on the head. “It'll be okay. You're still going to get lots of candy, after all, right? We can get a whole stash and then you can show your friend.” Crouching down to her level, Byleth took this opportunity to dry Edelgard's tears.

“You're...you're right! We gotta get the most candy ever now, because Hubert will be really sad if he hears that _ I _ was sad that he wasn't here.”

Laughing in response, Byleth couldn't stop the smile that came on.

“Wow, Byleth...I think that's the first time I saw you smile today,” remarked Claude. 

“I think so too!” began Dimitri, “you should smile more often!”

Byleth's smile only grew bigger. “Thank you.”

  
  


* * *

  


  
They continued to walk around until eventually Dimitri’s eyes lit up. He went to Byleth’s side and gently pulled on their hand. “Byleth, Byleth! Those are my friends!” he stated proudly, pointing towards three children ahead of them. “Can we go see them? Please? I bet they’ll really like you!”  
  
Byleth nodded. Dimitri silently, almost shyly, grabbed their hand as he led them towards his friends. Byleth couldn’t help but find it adorable.  
  
“Ingrid! Sylvain! Felix! You need to meet Byleth - they’ve been taking us trick-or-treating all day long!”  
The red-haired boy looked to Byleth with a certain look in his eye, of which Byleth couldn’t read, but his ear was promptly tugged on by the girl next to him.  
  
“Hey! What was that for, Ingrid?” She rolled her eyes in response.  
“You’ve been looking at women with that look in your eyes _ all day _ ! Don’t think someone wouldn’t catch on after the billionth time!”  
  
Sylvain frowned. “Ingrid, you hurt me. I couldn’t look at a billion women in one day. This was probably just my fiftieth.”  
“That’s still fifty times too many!” Ingrid shot back.  
  
The other boy who Byleth could only assume was Felix had a look on his face that told them that he was pretty much done with the other two.  
  
“Did they do this all day again?” questioned Dimitri, to which Felix gave a nod. Byleth immediately noted the look of relief upon the blonde-haired boy’s face.  
_ He’s probably happy that he didn’t have to deal with that bickering all day, _ Byleth thought.  
  
“Glenn, tell me I’m right! Sylvain shouldn’t be doing this to every single person he sees!”  
Glenn, with an expression similar to Felix, sighed. “You’re right, but give it a rest, Ingrid. You’ve been at this all da--”  
Ingrid grinned. “See, I knew I was right!”  
  
“Children, children, settle down,” soothed the adult with them. “That’s no way to make a first impression, is it?”  
  
Ingrid flinched, moving to fiddle with her hands. “I’m sorry.”  
“Sylvain?” the adult gestured. “What, me too? Fine, I’m sorry. I guess I can try to not do that anymore, but you can’t blame me when all the women here are so pretty.”  
“Sylvain…” growled Ingrid.  
  
Dimitri tugged on Byleth’s hand, causing them to crouch down. He whispered into their ear. “They’re not normally like this, okay? They’re really nice, so don’t hate them.”  
“Don’t worry,” Byleth replied, “I could never hate your friends, okay?”  
  
Dimitri beamed up at them, satisfied with their response. “Okay, everyone! We need to get going now but be careful!”  
Dimitri’s friends all waved goodbye to him, but before he was completely out of earshot, he shouted to them. “Oh, Sylvain! Don’t make Ingrid mad anymore, okay?”  
  
“Not you too, Dimitri!”  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  
Walking around a bit more, the children encountered many other familiar faces. Byleth remembered only a few of their names. Ignatz, Petra, Dorothea, Annette, Mercedes, Marianne… They were happy that the children had many friends at school, at least.  
  
“Oh, hey, Hilda!” Claude shouted, spotting his friend across the street. “You made sure to follow the plan, right?!”  
Hilda gave a thumbs-up with a huge grin. “Heck yeah! Meet you after school tomorrow!”  
  
“What was that all about?” questioned Byleth. “You aren’t doing anything bad, are you?”  
Claude shrugged in response. “If you must know, Byleth, I am a master of schemes. I cannot tell so easily.”  
  
Byleth chuckled. “I suppose it doesn’t matter as long as you aren’t doing anything bad.”  
  
Suddenly, Dimitri took a wrong step on the sidewalk and tripped over, taking Edelgard toppling over with him. “Watch where you’re going!” she exclaimed.  
  
“I-I’m sorry, El, I didn’t mean to--” he paused, realizing that she had a stain on her costume. “What are you staring at?” she questioned, looking down at the stain.  
  
Almost instantly, she began to cry. “You-- you ruined my costume, Dimitri!”  
Dimitri felt immense guilt, beginning to cry as well. “I’m sorry, El! I didn’t mean to…!”  
  
Byleth crouched down, attempting to soothe the two of them again. “Hey, hey, it’s okay,” they soothed, though the two wailing children wouldn’t be comforted so simply this time.  
  
Claude sighed, grabbing a Kit Kat from inside his bag and snapping it in two. He promptly shoved it into each of the crying children’s face.  
  
“If you must know, Byleth,” he repeated, continuing on from earlier. “I was _ going _ to have a secret Kit Kat party with all my friends at school, but now I’ll be short another bar. You two better stop crying, or else the Kit Kat will be in vain.”  
  
Byleth glanced over at Claude’s bag, realizing just how many Kit Kats he accumulated over the course of the trick-or-treating.  
  
The two sniffled, looking to Claude with apologetic eyes. “We’re sorry.”  
“Nuh-uh, you should say it to Byleth,” he replied. The two turned to Byleth, apologizing as well. Byleth chuckled fondly. “Now apologize to each other, and then we should probably start to head back, okay? It’s getting late.”  
  
“I’m… I’m sorry, Dimitri. I know you didn’t ruin my costume on purpose,” Edelgard admitted, sniffling once again.  
“It’s okay, El,” began Dimitri, “I forgive you.”  
  
“Here,” the two said, turning to Claude each with a Kit Kat in hand. “Aw, you guys!” he beamed. “Hilda’s gonna be so impressed with just how many I have now!” He hugged the two of them, and Byleth couldn’t help but smile amusedly.  
  
“Would you all mind if I took a picture of you?” they questioned, pulling out their phone. “No way, I don’t mind!” responded Claude enthusiastically, already holding up a peace sign. The other two smiled, looking up at the phone with excited expressions.  
  
“Okay, ready? Say cheese!” Byleth said.  
  
“Cheese!”  
  
Click!  
  
“Aww, what a great picture,” they said, showing the children their phone. “Oh, Byleth! Can you please come to school tomorrow? I wanna show that to all my friends, but I don’t have a phone, and I don’t know my mother’s number,” Edelgard said, looking up at her babysitter.  
  
“Oh, me too!” exclaimed Dimitri. “I want to show my friend Dedue!”  
Claude put his arms behind his back. “If you could show that picture to my friends too, I bet they’d think it’s cool ‘cause we all match.”  
  
Byleth put the phone away. “I can’t promise anything, but we’ll see what happens, okay?”  
The three kids pouted, but didn’t fight them on it.  
  
“Okay, now we’re gonna start to go home now, okay? It’s almost dinnertime.”  
The kids picked up their bags. “Okay, Byleth!”  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  
Finally reaching the house, Byleth sighed in exhaustion. They took off their shoes, shouting out an “I’m home,” although they knew their dad would be out longer than them. He was teaching a sword fighting class today.  
  
“Alright, kids, is there anything specific you want?” The kids exchanged looks between each other, seemingly being indecisive.  
  
“Chicken nuggets,” replied Edelgard.  
  
“Then I want french fries too!” exclaimed Dimitri.  
  
“Do you have mac and cheese?” questioned Claude.  
  
Byleth chuckled. “I can make all of those. Now, hurry and get out of those costumes, okay?”  
  
They all nodded, rushing out of the room as if the food was going to magically be ready by the time they came back.  
  
Byleth pulled out a box of mac and cheese, already hearing the scampering of the children rushing back towards the kitchen.  
  
“Byleth, can we go watch a show on the TV?” asked Dimitri politely. “Of course, Dimitri,” Byleth replied. “I’ll call you as soon as it’s done.”  
  
The children thanked them, rushing over to watch whatever cartoon they were excited about.  
  
Byleth watched them for a moment before turning back to make their food.  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  
“Byleth?” Jeralt entered his home, not finding his child nor the children around the entryway. “By-- ah.”  
  
He spotted blue hair by the couch, and quietly walked over before noticing that they had all fallen asleep with the TV on. He smiled fondly, fixing the blanket so that they would all be warm.  


  


* * *

  
  
  
  
“Thank you again for watching them,” said Dimitri’s father, holding his sleeping son in his arms. “I don’t think any of us expected to be so busy today.”  
  
“It’s no problem, after all, my kid did all the babysitting.” Jeralt gestured to Byleth as the bluenette waved. “It was a pleasure to watch them,” they said.  
  
“Then...I have a favor to ask for tomorrow.”  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
“Be on your best behavior today, okay?” Byleth pleaded, looking at the three with softened eyes.  
  
They looked to each other, then back to Byleth. They all gently grabbed Byleth’s hand and pulled them inside the classroom. “Whoa!” exclaimed the bluenette, nearly toppling over. “You promised you’d show my friends the picture you took of us!” said Edelgard, pouting.  
  
“Oh...I did say that, didn’t I? Okay, let’s go.” The young girl beamed up at Byleth in response.  
“Oh, Mr. Seteth!” Edelgard said excitedly, and Byleth watched as a green-haired man walked up to them.  
“Hello, Edelgard. Who is this that you three have brought today?”  
  
“This is Byleth, and they’re like the best babysitter ever!” Claude grinned, placing his arms behind his head.  
“Mr. Seteth, you should have Byleth be a teacher here, that way we get to see them more often!” Dimitri said.  
  
Byleth paled. “D-Dimitri, just because I was able to babysit you does not mean I’m qualified to be a teacher…”  
  
Seteth studied them for a moment, then gave them a smirk. “I do need the extra help around here. If you don’t have your hands full already, we can talk about possibly hiring you.”  
  
Byleth blinked. “Ye-- Yes, thank you, Mr. Seteth,” they replied blankly in disbelief. “Come on, Byleth! We gotta show my friends!” Edelgard tried to pull Byleth to her table.  
  
“No, Byleth, we need to show my friends, first!” Tugged Dimitri.  
  
Claude sighed. “You can just come whenever, Byleth,” he stated, walking to sit down at his table.  
  
Byleth laughed. _ Maybe being around kids like these all day wouldn’t be so bad after all. _


End file.
